A brief history of the WHA merger and Cincinnati and Houston.
Cincinnati was a leading candidate for the 1974 expansion. Kansas City, to be owned by son of Rangers owner, beat them out for last spot. Cincinnati were allegedly promised a spot in proposed 1976 expansion. The NHL later disputed that and planned to expand to Seattle and Denver.
August 77 - NHL led by Harold Ballard in Toronto reject merger with 6 WHA teams including Cincinnati and Houston. Bitter, New England and Cincinnati lead the charge to sign underage players. SPorts Illustrated list those 2 teams as most likely to join the NHL. Harold Ballard has a really good day.
November 77 - Houston goes into bankruptcy and sold.
February 78 - WHA gives teams permission to seek individual entry into NHL without fear of lawsuit - Houston, Edmonton, Cincinnati and New England express interest. Quebec and Winnipeg soon express interest.
April 78 - Houston announce season ticket drive (7,000) for NHL, Cincinnati announces season ticket drive (5,000) to stay alive.
May 78 - Houston ticket drive falls short. Announce they will withdraw from WHA and focus on buying and merging with a struggling NHL team, likely Cleveland or Colorado.
June 78 - Cincinnati meets its season ticket goal to survive.
June 78 - Merger proposal has Edmonton Quebec and New England at first and Winnipeg joining two years later. Cincinnati also wants in. Aetna Insurance (largest shareholder in Hartford) presents plan to NHL for 4 or 5 teams to join NHL. Can't get deal done before WHA agreement (allowing teams to join NHL without indemnifying remaining WHA teams) expires. No merger.
July 78 - Cincinnati owner reveals Of the 26 professional teams operating at the time Cincinnati had the lowest gate receipts, worse than Cleveland.
Dec 78 - Aetna Insurance of Hartford agreed to underwrite the merger costs of all the WHA clubs and save NHL harmless from future liabilities as a result of the merger (ie anti-trust lawsuit from remaining WHA teams).
Dec 78 - NHL President Ziegler says 5 teams including Cincinnati still possible. All present to NHL expansion committee.
Jan 79 - Cincinnati let it be known they were no longer interested in a merger. Houston seeks to buy Atlanta Flames. Later lose out to Calgary.
Mar 79 - Bill DeWitt of Cincinnati said was not interested in NHL on terms they were offering. Salary escalation and cost of entry no longer made it a viable proposition.
Mar 79 - NHL rejects merger with Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec and Hartford. Ballard in Toronto and Molson Breweries in Montreal largely blamed. Vancouver, Boston and LA also voted no. Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver stood to lose TV revenue. Boston didn't want a market invasion. Not sure what LA's issue was.
Mar 79 - Beer protests, gunshots and bomb threats lead Montreal (Molson Breweries) to change vote. Vancouver also changes vote with scheduling concessions given by NHL. Harold Ballard has a really bad day.
Great timeline. I'll add a little detail about the Cincinnati Stingers to it.
Had the NHL voted to accept a merger in 1978, the Stingers would have been "in". The NHL/WHA merger failed by one vote. I still have very little use for the greedy concessionaire Jacobs of the Bruins for his "no" vote.
After the 77-78 season, the Stingers ownership made a mandatory 5,000 full season ticket requirement for the Stingers to return to the WHA for the 78-79 season. The goal was met on the final day of the drive when Elder Beerman Department Stores bought approximately 100 full season tickets which allowed the goal to be met.
Stingers owners Bill DeWitt and Brian Heeken decided to accept a $3.15 million buyout to fold and not be part of the merger. The payment approximated the losses that the Stingers had accumulated during their history.
DeWitt ended up becoming the managing partner of the St. Louis Cardinals and Brian Heeken ended up going to jail for an elaborate scheme which cheated the Riverfront Coliseum's electric service provider out of approximately 2/3rds of the utility use of the facility.
As a passionate Stingers fan, I was crushed when the Stingers folded. I am of the belief that the franchise would have had a very difficult time surviving long term in the NHL, but that path wasn't traveled so who knows.
In their short 4 year history, the WHA Stingers had two future hockey hall of famers on their roster -Mike Gartner and a 17 year old kid who scored one goal all year by the name of Mark Messier. Goalie Mike Liut would win the Lester Pearson Award (MVP as voted on by the NHL players) as a member of the St. Louis Blues.
I was unaware that the Stingers had the lowest gate revenues, but it comes as no surprise. The half season tickets 10 rows behind the net that I talked my dad into buying during the ticket drive to survive had a face value of $3.50 but cost only $3.15 with the half season 10% discount.
